


Stress-relieving hobbies

by FraeuleinSnape (LouMiller)



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F, International Fanworks Day 2018, Lexi and Sara forever, Lexi should have been romanceable, Team Bonding, Tempest Crew - Freeform, The Sims
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 06:26:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13698738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouMiller/pseuds/FraeuleinSnape
Summary: A little fun contribution to the International Fanworks Day 2018.Sara tries to find a hobby to balance her stressful Pathfinder life but things don't really go the way she expects them to.P.S.: 'Under the Stars' will soon be updated, for those of you reading that story of mine.





	Stress-relieving hobbies

The asari doctor looked up from her omni-tool – she'd been going over the analysis she'd conducted on edible Angaran fruits and vegetables – when the door to the med bay opened and the Pathfinder walked inside, obviously agitated.  
“Sara?” She finally addressed the brunette when it became clear that she wouldn't be the one to begin the conversation even though she had been the one to come to her and not the other way around. That pacing was already getting on her nerves…  
“Remind me never to take your advice again, will you?” the young woman abruptly stopped, sinking into the doctor's office chair with an exasperated sigh.  
Lexi frowned in confusion. What was she talking about?  
“That e-mail you sent? About taking up a hobby to relieve stress? I swear I was never as stressed as I am now. I was perfectly fine before trying out all the hobbies…”  
“‘Trying out all the hobbies’?” Lexi gave the Pathfinder an inquisitive look, now actually curious to learn what had happened.  
“Yeah, you know. I'm not much of a knitting type so I thought I'd check in with the others, see what they do to relieve stress. I started with Kallo. I suppose you can guess how that one worked out for me.”

* * *

 

“So Kallo, what do you do in your free time?” Sara sidled up to the pilot. They were on their way back to Eos to see how things were going and to destroy one kett base or the other. Things were quiet for now, so Sara had decided to give the whole “hobby thing” a chance. However, she couldn't come up with a hobby of her own. She liked exploring and reading but there wasn't much left to explore on the Tempest and she couldn't get her mind to calm down enough to concentrate on reading.  
“That is a strange question, Ryder,” Kallo replied, his face still turned away from her, always vigilant and watching space for possible trouble.  
“Ah, well, you know, thought I should get some ideas for things to do in my down time.”  
That seemed to spike the pilot's interest. His big eyes widened even further as he turned his head to briefly look at her. “Ryder, not to dampen the mood, but are you truly expecting to have any time off in the foreseeable future? I hear most of the Nexus personnel is pulling 14 hour shifts until we have the resources to supply more workers with food and water.”  
“I uh…” Sara cringed inwardly, suddenly feeling bad for even thinking about finding a hobby. There were more important things to do. People depended on her.  
“Don't listen to him, Ryder,” Suvi butted in. “Kallo's all work. But he IS a salarian after all. I'd go crazy without a hobby and I think it'd be great if you had one.” She waved her over and brightly smiled at her. “You can share in my hobby if you want to.”  
Sara perked up at that, the guilt quickly creeping away to wait at the back of her mind for the next inopportune moment.  
Curious, she joined Suvi, leaning against the redhead's chair.  
“So what is it?” she asked excitedly, wondering what her fellow scientist got up to in her breaks. It had to be good, right?  
“My father and I used to do this when I was a child. But I think I already told you, didn't I? We would-”  
“You are not talking about licking rocks and stones, are you, Suvi?” Ryder asked, already dreading the answer. She only remembered too well what had happened the last time Suvi had licked a rock...  
The Scot beautifully blushed, silently answering Sara's question.  
“I uh, I think I'll pass, Suvi, but thanks!” Sara quickly said, giving the woman's shoulder a friendly squeeze before leaving the bridge. It couldn't be that hard to find a hobby, right?

* * *

 

Her next stop for the perfect hobby was Vetra. She'd already crossed Gil off her list – a round of poker once in a while was fine but not exactly the hobby she was looking for – hopeful that the turian had a better idea of a good time than Suvi.  
“Hey Vetra,” Sara stepped into the turian's room after announcing her presence. “You busy?”  
“Ryder, hey,” Vetra's mandibles twitched with her greeting smile. “Not particularly. What's up?”  
“I'm trying to find a hobby but so far I really haven't had any luck. I was wondering if you could help me out here? You practically raised your little sister so you must've found something to balance the stress that comes with the territory, right?”  
Vetra immediately nodded. “I did, actually. But it's not very ‘accessible’, or so to say. I go climbing whenever I find the time to. You are welcome to tag along the next time we're free for a couple hours. Eos has some gorgeous rock formations and mountains.”  
Huh, that actually didn't sound too bad. Not bad at all. But was more physical exhaustion really the key to relaxation?  
“You know what, I'd love that,” she decided on a whim; sometimes one simply shouldn't think over things too much. “Let me know when you're going and I'll be game.”  
“I'll hold you to it, Ryder.”  
Before any more words could be exchanged, a call from Sid came in and Sara excused herself, allowing the sisters to talk in private. How much she would give to be able to talk to her brother. Scott would probably know the perfect hobby for her.  
She sighed and straightened her shoulders.

* * *

Next stop: Cora.  
She knew Cora was into gardening and while Sara hadn't given it much thought until now, maybe that was the perfect activity for her.  
It just so happened that she got to Cora when she was taking care of her plants.  
“Hey,” Sara walked into the room that was resembling a greenery by now. Her second-in-command was really good at this. “Can I help?” she nodded at the water can in the blonde's hand.  
Cora gave her a questioning look but gave up the object without asking.  
“So what do you do after watering them?” Sara wanted to know, eager for the next step of her venture into gardening.  
Cora raised a brow at the young woman. “After?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Nothing.”  
“Nothing?” Sara's brows drew together in confusion. “But there's got to be more to do…”  
“Not at the moment, Sara,” Cora shook her head. “They have everything they need for now.”  
“Oh.”  
Cora chuckled. “I know it seems kind of boring but I really like it. Taking care of them, watching them grow. It relaxes me.”  
“I get it,” Sara shrugged her shoulders. 5-minute relaxation wasn't really what she'd been looking for. “I don't think it's for me though. I'll see you later, got to go and talk to Peebee.”  
“Yeah. See you, Sara.”

* * *

 

“Peebee, hey,” Sara grinned as she walked into the escape pod room. Surely someone as quickly bored and fun-loving as the young asari would have a cool hobby for her. “What's your hobby?” she asked without beating around the bush. She was slowly getting impatient with her lack of success.  
“I build my own little remnant,” Peebee answered, pointing at Pod.  
“Oh…” she should've anticipated that answer. Peebee was almost obsessed with everything remnant. Damn it!  
“I could be persuaded to lay down the screwdriver and indulge in my other hobby though,” Peebee winked at her, placing said screwdriver on the desk before sauntering towards the escape pod.  
Sara perked up. So maybe this wasn't going to be another failure after all. She could feel that this was going to be good. Maybe, maybe this was even going to be her new favorite hobby.  
“I also enjoy tackling pretty strangers from time to time,” Peebee batted her eyes, motioning for Ryder to come closer. Which Sara actually did, totally misreading the signals.  
Peebee smirked at the brunette, hooking a finger under her belt.  
“I was wanting to use that escape pod for a while now,” her voice was low, her eyes dark. “You, me, naked and doing the nasty in zero gravity. It'll be awesome!”  
“Doing the what?” Sara jumped back, finally realizing what Peebee had been insinuating. “I uh.. I think you got me wrong... Peebs… I'm just gonna. Go.”  
And with a flurry of brown hair and white-blue clothes, Sara backed out of the room to the laughter of Suvi and even Kallo.

* * *

Blushing a deep red, the 22-year-old fled the scene and bounded towards the kitchen to get a snack, running into Drack.  
“Hey kid,” Drack looked up from a pot he was stirring. “'The Archon board the ship or why are you running like that?”  
“Drack, hey,” Sara pressed her hands into her sides, taking deep gulps of air. Never in her life had she run faster than in this very moment. “Just… a … misunderstanding… with... Peebee,” she explained between gasps, joining him at the stove and peering into the pot.  
“This smells really good,” she commented once she got her breathing back under control. “Do you like to cook?”  
“It's all right, I guess. If you like to eat, you've got to cook. It's as easy as that.”  
Mhm. Not actually a hobby then but close enough. Maybe cooking was worth looking into. But, as she reminded herself, getting food to be able to cook was the top priority right now. There weren't really many ingredients to use.  
“So what are you cooking? Need any help?”  
“No, I'm almost done. You're welcome to have a bowl though. It's my famous Varren Soup recipe. Just without the varren obviously..”  
“What did you use instead?” Sara asked, suspiciously eying the greyish chunks of meat that swam in the soup. ‘Please no…’  
“Wraith. Build is similar. I figured the taste would be similar, too. Wanna try?”  
“Another time maybe,” Sara politely declined, inwardly retching at the thought of eating those vile creatures. “I promised Lexi I'd stop by for a checkup.”

* * *

 

And going to Lexi was exactly what she'd done. Jaal was still recuperating from the shock of learning that the kett had exalted his people, turning them into kett in the process. It seemed wrong to ask him about any possible hobbies he might have at a time like this. Maybe in a few days…  
And Liam was into working out and watching movies. Both things that were pretty okay but nothing that really drew her in.  
Also, she kind of had enough of her crew mates' hobbies for the day…

* * *

 

By the time Sara had finished her story, Lexi was doubling over laughing, holding her belly.  
And Sara couldn't help but wonder at the asari's beauty and the way the sound of her laugh made her tingle all over. God, she really had it bad.  
After another moment or two, Lexi finally calmed down and looked at her patient in earnest. “I'm glad you're thinking about taking up a hobby, Sara. But maybe you should listen more to yourself instead of others. I am sure the best person to find a hobby for you is you.”  
“That actually does make sense,” Sara admitted, dangling her legs and staring at Lexi. Why was she so beautiful? “Still, what's your hobby? Besides bugging everyone about shots and writing novel-length papers about krogans?”  
Lexi rolled her eyes at Ryder's wording but nonetheless smiled. She really enjoyed her teasing and their playful banter.  
“Well, I also like checking people's temperature and actually chasing them down to give them the mentioned shots,” Lexi smirked as Sara raised a brow.  
“But I'm also a fan of The Sims Andromeda. I play it on my omni-tool when I feel particularly stressed. You should try it. There really is nothing more therapeutic than building a space station and decorating it.”  
“The Sims, huh? Never would've pegged you for the times to play games. Good to know.” Sara patted the space next to her. “Show me.”  
“Now?”  
“Sure. We're still an hour from Eos and you don't have any wounds to stitch or bones to mend yet. What better time than now?”  
“Okay,” Lexi agreed, squeezing into the space next to Sara and starting the game on her omni-tool.  
Distracted by the closeness of the asari, Sara only focused on the game when it had already booted, watching as the doctor clicked on one of her save-games.  
Once it had loaded, Sara almost couldn't believe her eyes.  
Lexi, of course, quickly tried to focus the game camera anywhere else but was stopped by Ryder who had grasped her hand to still its movement.  
“Dr. T'Perro,” Sara grinned, her heart madly bouncing around in her chest. “Why are tiny Lexi and Sara making out in that cute little med bay you built there? I thought I wasn't your type?”  
Blushing a beautiful shade of purple, the doctor ducked her head and quickly bounded out of the med bay.  
Sara however settled back on the cot and started her own omni-tool.  
“SAM, please transfer a copy of Dr. T'Perro's Sims save games onto my omni-tool.”  
“Right away, Sara.”  
A moment later, Sara was back in the little Sims household and – after gushing at the cute mini versions of the rest of the Tempest crew (Drack was so adorable!) – she took control of Sims Sara and sent her to bed to ‘Wohoo’ and ‘Meld for Baby’ with Sims Lexi.  
She smiled at the screen thinking that maybe, maybe she'd found a good hobby after all. However, she couldn't wait until the real Lexi returned to the med bay. They really needed to talk. And Sara really needed to finally touch her lips to the asari's. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed my little ficlet :-) leave me a note/some feedback if you have some time on your hands.


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